News Release Number: STScI-2012-03

Rare Ultra-blue Stars Found in Neighboring Galaxy's Hub

January 11, 2012: Peering deep inside the hub of the neighboring Andromeda
galaxy, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a large,
rare population of hot, bright stars. While Hubble has spied
these ultra-blue stars before in Andromeda, the new
observation covers a much broader area, revealing that
these stellar misfits are scattered throughout the galaxy's
bustling center.

Astronomers used Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 to find roughly
8,000 of the ultra-blue stars in a stellar census made in
ultraviolet light, which traces the glow of the hottest stars.
The study is part of the multi-year Panchromatic Hubble
Andromeda Treasury survey to map stellar populations across
the Andromeda galaxy. The team's results are being presented today at the
American Astronomical Society meeting in Austin, Texas.